Apocalypse carefully walks up the narrow stairs to the stage. Jayvin carefully walks up the narrow stairs to the stage. Apocalypse says, ""Alright, I think it's time to begin. Welcome, Talek and Rarkov, to this presentation. Jayvin has been the administrator of his own small social PennMUSH called DynamixMUSH for over three years. He has built a simple, but unique and non-trivial, softcoded space system there, and has recently decided to generalize it to take elseMUSH. He will give us an introduction to this system in hopes of generating interest in his space code here on M*U*S*H." Rarkov says, "Are we allowed to comment and ask questions in these?" Apocalypse says, "Yes. -help lecture2 for the commands." Rarkov says, "Cheers, go for it." Apocalypse says, "Jayvin?" Jayvin nods. Jayvin shuffles his cards around looking a little nervous to be giving his first MUSH presentation. Apocalypse goes down the few steps to the seating area. Apocalypse comes down the few steps from the stage. Jayvin says, "Greetings :-) Thanks for attending the presentation of my softcoded space system. When I have finished with the pre-prepared portion of the presentation, I will be happy to hear any comments or questions you may have." Rarkov cheers. Jayvin smiles. "Thanks Rarkov." Jayvin says, "Recently I have been calling my space system DSpace. It was developed for my own social PennMUSH called DynamixMUSH! Please indulge me while I explain a little about the motivation for and conception of DSpace. In doing so, I will also be telling you a bit about DynamixMUSH." Jayvin says, "I spent my first two years MUSHing going from one social MUSH to another, coming up with ideas, learning to code, and eventually becoming frustrated when my projects were halted by stingy quota restrictions or lack of powers. When I found out that there was a Win32 port for the server, I finally had the opportunity to build Dynamix using many of the ideas I had tried to implement elsewhere." Jayvin looks around nervously at the mention of Win32 but continues. Jayvin says, "I was determined to make a MUSH where people could build what they wanted with as little restriction as possible. Such is the theme of DynamixMUSH. It is intended to be built by the players for the players. We have traditionally been very small (currently about half as many objects as M*U*S*H), but have experienced some recent growth. You are invited to stop by any time at dynamix.dyndns.org 4201. Explore the variety of code our staff and players have put together, or build a new area of your own!" Rarkov shows a cross sign. We're linux users here! :) Jayvin nods and would be too if he had a decent system :-) Jayvin says, "Just before starting Dynamix I worked for a short time helping someone else build a space themed MUSH called StarFlight. We were doing a variety of building and also working on a rather complex soft coded space system. The head admin had a lot of trouble making his ideas come to life and eventually we gave up the project. I got the idea of making a simpler soft code space system on Dynamix, using my own original design for the system (though it is very loosely based on a PC strategy game called Stars!)." Jayvin says, "In my original design, the entire system consisted of just two objects: a starship parent and a blank universe object. The first time a sector is visited by a starship, the sector's conditions (possibly including a planet of interest) are created randomly and stored as simple attributes on the universe object. So as starships move from sector to sector, they are really doing nothing more than accessing different attributes of the universe object." Jayvin says, "There are a variety of things to do in space. As you explore the universe, you can transfer minerals from uncolonized worlds and trade these minerals for fuel or buy over 10 different kinds of upgrades for your ship. You may encounter other players' ships and do battle with phasers or photon torpedoes. Eventually, you may want to colonize a planet of your own." Jayvin says, "When a colony has enough colonists and minerals, they may apply to get a starbase. Only then is DSpace extended beyond the universe object and starships. Starbases are new rooms added to the MUSH and colonizing players can @dig out their planet or starbase and link them to this room. This gives the player an opportunity to add their own areas and code to the space system. In an offline version of DSpace, I am making a starbase parent object that will make starbases capable of doing battle with starships." ??????SOMETHING IS MISSING HERE??????? Jayvin nods at Rarkov, glad he wasn't putting you all to sleep :-) Rarkov grins. Rarkov says, "No, these are just timed random messages! ;-)" Apocalypse chuckles. Talek isn't asleep either... just waiting to be called on. Jayvin chuckles. Jayvin says, "DSpace was not getting the attention I wanted it to get on Dynamix, so I have brought it here. It was not conceived to be a general space system, but rather an area of Dynamix. I have begun to generalize it while converting it for M*U*S*H. At present, it is in a usable state and you are welcome to give it a try." Jayvin says, "Please keep in mind that it was designed to be simple. Dynamix is a newbie friendly MUSH, and I wanted DSpace to be accessible to new players. There is sufficient complexity to keep things interesting, but not nearly the complexity of some of the hard coded space systems available. DSpace is constantly being developed, though I don't have as much time for it as I used to. Perhaps a rebirth of DSpace here on M*U*S*H will inspire me to get things done more quickly :-)" Jayvin says, "At present, the space system is available but there is not a good in character way of getting into it. If anyone is interested, I could use some help developing a space station where you could at the very least be able to apply for a starship and get it built. I have not seen Vexon's Orbitus Station, but I am hoping perhaps this will be an ideal gateway to DSpace. I have worked up a Moon Shipyards room and a starship vendor for the time being. I have also always wanted to build an automated training class to familiarize new players with starship commands and DSpace strategies and would be grateful for help with this project." Jayvin says, "Now, if there is time and interest, I would be happy to answer any questions you may have, and perhaps introduce you to some starship systems and demonstrate their usage." Talek waves his raised hand a little higher. Jayvin says, "Sorry, go ahead, talek :-)" Apocalypse would like to remind everyone to use the commands provided. -help lecture2 if you're not familiar with them. Jayvin nods. Talek says, "I just wanted to point out that the name DSpace is perhaps a bit unfortunate. Several years ago, Dynamic Space was created as a system of dynamically digging and recycling rooms according to a map, to save on DB space." Talek says, "You're likely to cause confusion with that system, which was frequently called DSpace for short." Jayvin says, "Correct, as I mentioned, I have only recently been calling it that, so that is a problem easily solved. Thanks for the tip." Talek says, "No problem. :-)" Jayvin says, "Dynamix is based on dynamic, which I intended my MUSH to be, so DSpace just 'seemed' likee a good idea." Rarkov says, "What do you find about lag? In my space system I avoid attributes cause they are the slowest part of the code. I load in data from a db and then use it 'in code', then dump it. Is your system slow? Also, how so you handle exits from ships?" Jayvin says, "Good question. Like I said, Dynamix is small, so it hasn't been through a lot of testing with many people in the system at once, but..." Jayvin says, "The objects do follow a semaphore, so timing should not be a problem, lag remains to be seen I guess." Rarkov says, "Although, as you may have guessed, CSE (my system) is hardcoded." Rarkov says, "Thankyou." Jayvin says, "Ships are objects that are entered and left, I don't have any exits from them at present..." Jayvin nods. Jayvin says, "Anything else? I do have my help object here if you have time or interest." Rarkov says, "I have an idea. This is the way I do it, which could be used on yours." Jayvin nods to Rarkov Rarkov says, "Instead of using objects as ships, use rooms. You can open exits in and out, then @nuke the exit when done." Rarkov says, "It's easy to do." Jayvin says, "Are there any issues with user defined commands and triggering attributes on rooms?" Rarkov says, "Not that I'm aware of." Jayvin says, "Also, starships do actually move from room to room..." Jayvin says, "Once you go into orbit around a planet." Rarkov says, "That's be a prob." Jayvin says, "Players digging out their system can have exits that starships can 'fly' through at impulse." Rarkov says, "Well, mine's Hcoded so I don't have any commands in room. It does use a nav console though." Rarkov says, "Ah, your using impulse and warp?" Jayvin hasn't found a need to have exits in ships. They are basically designed to be controlled by a single player. Jayvin says, "Yes, in a sense..." Jayvin says, "Mostly to get around the universe, you 'warp'." Jayvin says, "And basically your ship walks through exits, when you issue a 'fly' command on impulse." Rarkov says, "Right...I found it better to use Wormholes. Nothing bad about warp though...but warp will always be impossible." Jayvin has wormholes too :-) Those take you from far reaches of the universe to others. Rarkov says, "The further towards light speed you get, the slower time becomes, until it stops (at light spd)." Jayvin says, "Also, alternate universes can be set up, by simply changing the db# of the universe object stored on an attribute of the ship." Rarkov says, "That's fine, cause you arrive immediatly, but you cannot stop, cause you are always in the same instance, of starting the warp drives! :)" Jayvin has thought of using wormholes to get to alternate universes. Apocalypse says, "The physics of that are debatable, Rarkov, and they're addressed elsewhere. However, as this is Jayvin's presentation, I'd like to keep focused on him. :)" Rarkov says, "Sorry ;-)" Jayvin says, "In my space system, you 'engage' the warp engines to travel a certain distance, and then your ship stops (presumably according to orders)." Jayvin says, "To move again, you issue another engage command." Jayvin says, "Mine is quite different from the hard coded space systems..." Jayvin says, "I hadn't even seen hard code space when I started it." Rarkov says, "Are the moving commands based on number of rooms to move?" Jayvin says, "The number of sectors, yes. Remember, when a ship moves by warp, it simply accesses different attributes of the universe object, it does not actually move in the MUSH sense." Jayvin says, "Only at impulse does the ship object move." Jayvin acknowledges the late comers and hopes you will give him the opportunity to show you part of his presentation at a later time/date. Rarkov says, "thankyou, ok." Jayvin says, "Thank you for your questions, Rarkov. Anyone else?" Jayvin says, "I thank you for your attention, and I would be happy to walk you through my system at any time. Page is always OK! :-)" Rarkov cheers. Apocalypse carefully walks up the narrow stairs to the stage. Rarkov stands up clapping and making an idiot out of himself! Jayvin smiles. Rarkov says, "Yeahh!" Jayvin says, "Thanks, Rarkov :-)" Rarkov sits down, bowwing his head in shame. Rarkov :) Jayvin grins. Apocalypse says, "Thank you for attending this conference, folks. Feel free to contact Jayvin later on, as per his comment earlier. The next presentation will be in here in approximately fifteen minutes, so please stand by." Elevtaor music promptly sounds over the speaker system as he and Jayvin exit the stage. Jayvin goes down the few steps to the seating area. Jayvin comes down the few steps from the stage. Apocalypse goes down the few steps to the seating area. Apocalypse comes down the few steps from the stage.